Somalia was hit in 2011-2012 by a famine that killed around 260,000 people, half of whom were children under the age of five. In 2017, another disaster was averted thanks to an early mobilization of the international community and today, as Mr. Griffiths points out, “we are at the last minute of the eleventh hour to save lives”.
Famine is threatening Somalia, a senior UN official said, noting that two districts could be affected before the end of the year.
The Somalia Food and Nutrition Analysis Report shows concrete indications that a famine is going to occur in two areas of Bay region (Baidoa and Burhakaba districts) between October and December this year.
Martin Griffiths, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said he was « deeply shocked in recent days by the level of pain and suffering that so many Somalis are enduring ».
Across the country, almost half of the population is affected by the historic drought, of which 213,000 are in great danger of starvation; One and a half million children in Somalia will also face acute malnutrition by October, according to UN figures.
Mr Griffiths noted that in the face of this humanitarian crisis, aid organizations must have « immediate and safe access » to all those in need, not just those making the terrible decision to walk from their homes. , their village and their community to reach places of care, but to all people in need. Margot van der Velden, WFP’s Emergency Director, said, “The drought crisis continues to deteriorate and famine is closer than ever. The world must react now, while we still have a chance to avert catastrophe.”
Somalia was hit in 2011-2012 by a famine that killed around 260,000 people, half of whom were children under the age of five. In 2017, another disaster was averted thanks to an early mobilization of the international community and today, as Mr. Griffiths points out, “we are at the last minute of the eleventh hour to save lives”.
The unprecedented failure of four consecutive rainy seasons, decades of conflict, mass displacement, severe economic problems, have pushed many Somalis to the brink of starvation; the conditions that likely to last until at least March 2023, according to the UN.